All work is play for Mehra

“If anybody asked,I could simply say that I was doing my college work,” says Mehra,a student of the Indira Gandhi Sports and Physical Education Institute. And ultimately his option paid off when he gave his side the lead with a 57th minute header.

Indeed the subject of Mehra’s thesis is on the validity of the soccer test on Indian players. “Football is a sort of fitness test for footballers,” he explains. Like most fitness tests,it consists of drills like shuttle runs,sprints and flexibility. What is different about the soccer test is that it is done with a football. “What I want to find out is whether a player’s performance in this test also translates into footballing ability,” says Mehra.

Mehra says he has only just begun to work out how to quantify ‘footballing ability’ but says he will start with his data collection in another couple of months. While he says the test will initially be a fitness test for seasoned footballers,he expects it to also identify talent in youngsters.

While both college work and play both revolve around football now,that wasn’t always the case. “I was a volleyball player in school. It was only when I entered college that I started playing football,” says Mehra.

Despite the late start,Mehra proved to be a natural and played his first club match for B division side BB Star within a couple of months of his introduction to the game. A year later he moved on to the A division. Although he had an average first year,because he was simultaneously training to be a flight steward — one of my worst choices,he says – he did well enough to finally move into the Senior divison with Delhi United — then Gorkha Heroes — in 2010.

But while Mehra’s rise in the capital’s soccer circuit may seem meteoric,he says his lack of basic training shows from time to time.

“Even now I still struggle with basic mistakes. I can’t fit into any complex passing game and once I get the ball,I tend either to pass or shoot immediately rather than keep it with me. These are things that I would have learnt as a youngster,” he says.

However Mehra is quick to add that he has never had any problems scoring goals. What Mehra says he lacks in technical skills,he makes up with his positional play. Mehra says he has an uncanny ability to know where the ball will go and manages to shake off any defender before finding himself with plenty of space.

However,he knows that while the level of competition in Delhi may not prove much of a challenge,it will be more difficult when he advances further in competitive football. “I am starting out on the basics and hopefully,since I am a quick learner,it’s not too late,” he says.

Other results:

Delhi United beat New Delhi Heroes 2-0 in their DSA Senior Divison league match at the Thyagaraj Stadium. Deepak Mehra scored the opener in the 57th minute,while Rishi Kapoor added the second in the 73rd minute.

Another match between Ahbab FC and newly promoted Veterans FC at the Jasola Sports Complex ended in a 1-1 draw. Tarsem Lal scored for Ahbab while Manish Thapa managed one for Veterans.